News Articles: Investment Management

Municipal Bond Worries

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: May 2011 | Investment Management
In 2010, prominent industry analysts warned of a looming fiscal crisis among state and local governments. Some experts even predicted widespread municipal bond defaults in the US.1 Investor fears intensified in late 2010 when the municipal bond market experienced one of its largest selloffs in decades, which drove up bond...
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Does Monetary Expansion Stoke Inflation?

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: April 2011 | Investment Management
Since the financial crisis hit in late 2008, the US monetary base has more than doubled, from about $800 billion in mid-2008 to about $2 trillion in November 2010.1 When the Federal Reserve announced a second round of quantitative easing (QE2), it raised investor concerns that such actions would stoke...
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What’s “New” about a New Normal?

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: February 2011 | Investment Management
The 2008 global market crisis and the struggling economy have left many investors fatigued. Despite two years of strong equity returns, some investors have been slow to regain market confidence. Many are accepting the talk about a “new normal” in which stocks offer lower returns in the future. ...
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2010 Review: Economy & Markets

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: January 2011 | Investment Management
The past year offered an interesting mix of positive and negative news as investors around the world eagerly anticipated signs of economic recovery and financial stabilization. While most financial markets logged positive returns for a second straight year, investors had to endure a host of troubling news and pessimistic market...
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Deficits, Debt, and Markets

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: December 2010 | Investment Management
As government spending hits record levels around the globe, some politicians, economists, and pundits are warning that rising indebtedness may drag down economies and financial markets. This issue has raised concern among investors who assume that a government’s fiscal policy is closely linked to the country’s economic growth and market...
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Navigating Structured Products

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: December 2010 | Investment Management
In recent years, structured products have gained favor among retail investors in Europe and the US. Investment banks promote these securities as sophisticated tools to help investors manage downside risk, enhance returns, or achieve other investment objectives. Sales have grown briskly since 2006, and despite a decline after the 2008...
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Portfolio Endurance

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: October 2010 | Investment Management
The need for retirement planning doesn’t end with the onset of retirement. A new retiree’s focus shifts from building wealth to managing and preserving it. One major challenge is to make the investment portfolio supply cash flow for the duration of life—and through different economic and market conditions. Experts have...
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Fixed Income Risk in Your Portfolio

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: August 2010 | Investment Management
With interest rates near historical lows, some investors may be anxious about a possible rate climb and its potential impact on their fixed income investments. Rising interest rates typically cause existing bonds to lose value. While investors might hold short-term instruments to manage this risk, an interest rate decline could...
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Managers vs. Markets

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: May 2010 | Investment Management
Proponents of active management believe that skilled managers can outperform the financial markets through security selection, market timing, and other efforts based on prediction. While the promise of above-market returns is alluring, investors must face the reality that as a group, US-based active managers do not consistently deliver on this...
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Diversifying a Portfolio with Real Estate

Submitted by Martin A. Smith | Published: April 2010 | Investment Management
Real estate as a wealth generator is hardly a new idea. People owned property long before the advent of stock exchanges and other capital markets. In more recent times, large corporations and institutions have held commercial real estate in their portfolios. But individual investors have not traditionally had ready access...
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